Happy New Year!

What's Stilton? And I'm not having friends over. I still have some egg nog left and I want to drink it by myself.

all our visiting chitlins have left, youngest daughter is spending the night at a friend's (very well supervised by parents) NY eve party, ans dh and I may actually go to sleep rather than stay up. I had momentary thoughts about going to the Perpetual Adoration chapel to see the new year in there, but I am cold and aching and dh is already starting to snore. Maybe next year.

PGMP,LOL!! Thats funny Peony! Is it really a PGMP , or are you having some fun at your houses expense? We bought new,but I'm begining to wish we'd bought an older home. We were the only people on our street to decorate for Christmas this year, and our neighborhood association is getting way out of hand.

Oh dear Mr. Luse, bring Mrs. Luse and some of that egg nog up this way, and we'll share a wedge of Stilton, the King of Cheese! Bring some cigars and red wine, and we can do the whole Chesterton thing!

Steve, it is indeed a Prussian Green Money Pit! There is nothing cool or distinctive about it, it's just a split-level tract house slapped up in the late '60's. Buying an older house has its advantages, but if the house is in poor condition it helps a lot if you have a knack for serious home repair -- or have good cash flow. (We have neither.)

But we also have no annoying neighborhood Taste Police looking over our shoulders, either. I should snap pictures of some of the spectacles in our neighborhood! (We just have a wreath on the door and electric candles in the windows.)

If we ever move I'm pretty sure we're going for a homeowners' free place too. (It's not likely to be any closer to our parish if that's the case, though.) I don't feel like we actually own our property with all the rules about what we can do on it that are based, not on safety, but on people's aesthetic preferences.

I love kitschy X-mas spectacles! I get so sick of the tasteful clear lights all over the place.

This year I ordered a large, multicolor-lighted wreath to hang off the back deck: my husband bought a giant wire lighted reindeer to stand on the deck overlooking the wreath, wagging its motorized head in a heartwarming (read extremely cheesy) way.

I do like multicolored lights--the reindeer make me laugh. Some of our neighbors have about ten wire reindeer posed in their front yard; every year my naughty teenaged son threatens to sneak out at night and mount them all upon each other!

(Alas, he's actually too chicken...)

Speaking of cheese, what's with the Stilton? When you're a 33% snob, you only buy CHILTON'S. Eww. Sorry for the pun. I did sample Gorgonzola recently--and at Erik's behest, I have PURCHASED (but not yet opened) Parmigiana Reggiano.

But for sofa-and-TV snacking, you just can't beat Heluva Good Pepper Jack. I like to cut up Kielbasa and Pepperoni (the best stick pepperoni really IS Boar's Head--everything else of theirs is too boring to justify the exorbitant price).

(Actually, I must confess that I enjoy Boursin and Ritz. In fact, I'm nuts for the wildly-overpriced French stuff. A friend of mine had a mock-Boursin recipe once: mix equal parts butter and cream cheese with a generous swoosh of garlic powder).

If you can, please DO post pix of the neighborhood spectacles! I'd really enjoy them! Honestly!

And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE good cigars and red wine! (or good beer!)

Especially La Gloria Cubana "Serie R"!

KTC-
I only eat parmegiana reggiano if I can help it.

As far as gorgonzola, you are going to laugh, but when I was a child we used to buy it at Dean & Deluca's. Sweet gorganzola. I actually do not like it very much, even the sweet is a bit too sharp for my taste. My Italian family used to eat it for dessert with fruit and tea. I will settle for brownies for dessert.

KTC -- well, maybe that Stilton is why I am 52% snob! I like Gorgonzola too. Actually, I like almost all kinds of cheese -- especially smelly overpriced stuff, but Cabot, Cracker Barrel, and Safeway's house brands are all okay with me too!

I've lost my taste for Brie, though. I stopped eating Brie and Camambert when I was pregnant, and I never got my taste back for those cheeses.

I would love to keep Parmiagiano-Reggiano on hand, but my husband is crazy about it -- I would get one meal out of my wedge, and then the rest would vanish as soon as my back was turned.